h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Old duplicate guide removed.
The final (I hope!) version of my guide is complete.
Please let me know your thoughts on it, they are very much appreciated.

Ok, here goes, then...

>>Broadband comes in many different forms<< is not an answer to >>Why Get Broadband?<<

There are a few spelling/grammar mistakes to sort out - most notably the difference between "its" and "it's" and other misuses of the apostrophe - but we can deal with those once the rest of the entry is up and running.

>>Dialup speed was only 56kbps compared to broadband at 512kbps, that makes the broadband connection 10 times faster, and compared to 24mb which is 480 times faster than Dialup.<< I don't understand the last part of that sentence.

>>These providers tend to use the cable connection and supply a very stable connection and users are unlikely to need support for connection issues, if you’re not very confident with technology this could be a massive problem for you.<< It could be a problem that you won't have connection issues?

I also agree that the title needs changing. This isn't about broadband in general.

Also, you assume that everyone will want the highest speed connection they can get - that's often not the case, I'm perfectly happy at a lower speed and lower price!

Sorry, that's a lot to consider. But I'm sure you can shape this into a good entry if you spend a little more time on it.

And now?

Well, you can address these issues - we'll be glad to help, if you ask.

Or if you feel it's too overwhelming, you can look for a collaborator.

I've looked at the points you mentioned and tried to make it more readable, can you tell me what you think?

I think you're doing a great job of taking on board everyone's advice and making a really useful Guide Entry. Keep up the enthusiasm!

I will tomorrow. It's nearly three in the morning now

Thanks!!

You are doing great laural-tree but one little thing to note. In writing Guide entries we don't use smileys.

Okay, I was sent an email with how to use the guide-ml mode and insert them recently, I got a little carried away!

This is a lot better, and nearly there I think. It's still very UK-centric so perhaps you should change the title to "Broadband considerations in the UK."

I'm going to keep my mouth shut about usage of the term "broadband". Your usage is probably more in line with the public's understanding, so I'll let it go.

"The Internet is accessed via a DSL connection which uses a high frequency digital signal which can carry a large amount of data, unlike Dial up and the old analogue signal, making it faster,"

First you need to expand DSL. Second, this implies DSL is digital and dial-up is analogue, which isn't true; both are technically digital but coverted to analogue tones when transmitted over phone lines.

Change mb to Mb throughout (small "m" means milli, big "M" means Mega)

I am always going to appreciate any comments made on my guide, I enjoy learning and want to produce something that can help people not fall foul to some of the "traps" that make some peoples life a misery.
I would appreciate it if you researched the digital / analogue part though, I believe you are wrong, but if I'm wrong if you could provide me the links to this information, I would appreciate it greatly.
Analogue connections (dialup) are available to anyone with a phone line, and requires no intervention to receive it.
Broadband, however, requires the exchange to have what is called a DSLAM (digital subscriber line access multiplexer) to convert the analogue signal back into a digital one.
If your nearest exchange doesn't have a DSLAM then you cannot get a broadband connection via your phone line.
Dial up however doesn't need the exchange to contain one as the don't need converting, this is why anyone can have one if they have a line to their home.

Here's a couple of links I found - it looks like both are digital signals sent over an analog carrier. ADSL modems have something called an "analog front end" (AFE) that helps convert the analog phone line signals to and from digital data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modem
"Modem (from modulator-demodulator) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information."

http://www.planetanalog.com/features/communications/OEG20021002S0016
http://www.fujitsu.com/emea/services/microelectronics/adsl/mb86626/index.html
"Each broadband access technology uses the flexibility and power of the digital domain to achieve their ultra-high performance. Inevitably, however, any of these technologies must utilize the analog domain for the receive and transmit functionality needed traverse their respective medium."

Yeah, both are technically digital communications protocols, meaning the computers at each end talk in '1's an '0's (though I think there might be four characters, dunno) .

The analogue part is an artefact of old telephone lines, that had capacitors in series for isolation purposes. This presents an open-circuit or blockage to a DC current, which wasn't a problem for analogue (AC) speech. But you can't simply send digital data over it, hence the modem, which converts it to AC, using different frequencies for '1's and '0's,which can jump the gap. It's not really analogue as the protocols are still digital, but the wire (what we call the physical layer) transports only analogue signals so we call it an analogue medium. Broadband that doesn't use phone lines can be digital end-to-end.

Nowadays this only applies to the user connection to the exchange - all exchanges (and the links between them) are digital nowadays, even for plain old telephone calls and dial-up.

I have removed the reference to analogue in my guide.
I have taken and passed a course relating to networking for my job.
It seems this was the elusive wrong answer I was getting in my exams, I never could find out where the mistake was!
There was a question regarding the difference in dialup and dls connections, with four possible answers, I always chose the analogue low frequency and digital high frequency answer which scored me 99.7% in the result. Part of the answer is correct, this has bothered me for a fair amount of time, but now I know.
I work for a large UK provider in their broadband technical support customer services, (not mentioned in the post) so should have known this.

I've even been naughty and when a customer called with "tags" on her line preventing her getting connected to us, I needed the BT Wholesale number for her to get the problem resolved (this advice is outside what I'm allowed to give). So as I didn't have access to the post my self, I told her where to go to get it from my guide, while remaining on the phone to her, to help her get a Mac code as the one she was given was not valid.
I now feel quite foolish for doing this, as at the time she, although I never told her I was the author, she was impressed with the information it gave and said she wished she had read it before.
Now though as it contained the mistake above, I feel quite bad about her having read it.
It is in a way irrelivant but the same mistake cost me a 100% pass in my exam.
Thank God for the peer review!!

My job in customer services is the reason why I didn't want to mention them at all.
My employer invested a lot of time and money in me in an effort to provide excellent customer services.
I have people call me up with issues and understandibly they are sometimes angry and upset.
They shout and swear at me as soon as I answer the call due to another agents handling of the issue.
My employer also has a scoring system, which, if all procedures are followed exactly as they should be, and the customer receives a warm personal welcome with their mood and mindset managed and adapted to, the agent can make very impressive bonuses each month.
You cannot make a bonus if the customer is, at the very least, indifferent to the help they receive.
They must leave the call "happy" and "greatful".
So you see when it comes to customer service, I can honestly say the provider I work for has the customer at the heart of it's business.
There will always be some arrogant person who calls up, like for example a customer I spoke to recently, who thought they had received a third rate service due to not having a power point within reach of a phone point to connect the router to.
This customer attacked me personally swearing at me saying I was asking them to risk their kids lives when I suggested an extension power lead to enable the router to be plugged in.
My point here is, no matter what lengths a company goes to they will always have a small number of people bad mouthing their service, and we all know that for every happy customer, on average 2 people will hear of this, and for every unhappy customer, on average, 7 people will hear of it.
So this makes me feel in some ways, customer service is the least most important thing to consider.
Some people want too much and some just can't be pleased.

"not having a power point within reach of a phone point to connect the router to"

Heh, that's pretty dumb.

Mind you, it cuts both ways - I had to call my ISP on a premium rate number to tell them my broadband wasn't working. Their deal is if it's valid technical fault they refund the cost of the call. I was told that because there was a notice *on their website* stating the service was down in my area I didn't qualify for a refund on the call! They did eventually deduct the cost, but it took a good few minutes of explaining to them how that was a stupid policy.

I can't comment on other providers policy, but my employer has a local rate call and supply 24/7 service for any broadband tech issue.
I deal with all kinds of problems and if the connection isn't working or they cant log on to email I support them.
That provider you mention obviously just wants profit no matter the cost to customers... was it virgin by any chance?

About the power point..... She thought it was my fault her closest power point was not within reach of her phone point... she should have been told a wireless connection still needed plugging in?

Madness I agree!!!

>> So this makes me feel in some ways, customer service is the least most important thing to consider.
Some people want too much and some just can't be pleased. <<

I can understand why you feel that way. Whenever I use one of those web comparison sites and the vendor (or the product for that matter) has a few poor reviews, I'll try to read the reviews and judge whether the complainants have a point or are just being dense. However - I would expect the nutters to be randomly distributed across ISPs, so the overall balance of opinion will still reflect genuine customer satisfaction, or otherwise.

Entry is looking good now though